Mark's Reviews

My third visit for a business lunch in the last six months, so I thought a review was now due. This is a really good restaurant. After you have conquered the steep stairs you get to a light and airy room and receive a lovely, relaxed welcome from one of the great staff.

That is one of the best things about this perky little Italian-you can genuinely have a relaxing meal, with just the right amount of attention to suit and carried out in a really nice way-it is very refreshing. It also makes hosts and guests relax in equal measure.

The menu is short and simple -Antipasti, Pasta, Fish/Meat. We had Veal Milanese and Grilled Fish. Lovely. Simple accompaniments of spinach and fried courgette were perfect.

In previous visits I have tried various starters and they have been very good.

Overall, I really rate this restaurant. Managed and run by very nice, experienced people producing great food in a lovely atmosphere. Fantastico!

This was my third visit to Loch Fyne in the City and it is averaging out to be a decent venue for a lunch. Good oysters, fresh fish and solid puds to suit most.

We all had and enjoyed a dozen well presented oysters, that went down a treat. Main's of Dover Sole and mixed fish were fresh and very nice.

My only gripe is the service. It is never bad and the staff are very polite and helpful. Then come the errors! I specified olive oil rather than butter for my main and was told no problem-then it arrives dripping in butter. it was replaced without a problem but this is the second time in two visits this has happened. Simply no excuse.

Coffee was ordered and arrived really quickly but cold-again, how?

So a nice venue but needs to pay more attention to detail.

Talk about style over substance. This is truly an awful venue and will be avoided by me at all costs! The menu was interesting and showed some promise but the end results were just hopeless.

To start we shared an Antipasto Board that consisted of really cheap Italian cured meats and mass produced antipasti-just awful. This was followed by Crab linguini (the worst plate of pasta I have eaten anywhere for a long time), a very average beef burger and mediocre fish and chips.

It looks like they have decided to buy the “economy” range from a mass catering supplier and then build a creative menu. As for the décor, it gives you a headache.

Vistied The Don last month for a business lunch. The service was good but slightly over bearing. The menu was very interesting but the end result had mixed results. All of the food was presented well but some times did not live up to the promise of the menu.

For examble:-Tian of Hand Picked Crab and Avocado on a Chilled Crab Bisque Sauce -sounds great but tasted of tinned crab with a marie rose sauce!

Roast Loin and Braised Belly of Black Bigorre Pig with Choucroute-Very nice but not memorable, a waste of great ingredients.

Yorkshire Rhubarb Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream- A huge helping of crumble, sadly no better than my 14yr old can put together.

There are better places to visit in the area at this price.

I had lunch with an old friend for a good catch up and “friday curry with beers”. I worked at Angel Court many years ago, so it was a walk down memory lane for me.

For a Friday, it was very empty but we liked the decor and the welcome was lovely. The menu was very interesting, so we ordered with great anticpation. Duck and scallops to start, lamb pepper fry and pork vindaloo to follow.

The starters arrived and were fantastic. really well cooked and seasoned with perfectly balanced spices. The main courses kept up the good news, both really, really good.

Service was great. As we stuck with beer, I can't comment on the wine.

It was a very good meal and I am looking forward to going again. I would not hesitate to have a business lunch there.

I visited Barbecoa on a business lunch with two other diners. The restaurant had been chosed becasue my guests were foodies and loved good steak. As we walked past the interesting Barbecoa butchers, our expectations were high as the meat looked excellent.

We were wellcomed with a smile and attentive staff and had a well situated table with a nice view of St Pauls. So far, so good.

The menu arrived and we were all underwelmed. The array of meats and cuts we noticed in the butchers seemed to have stayed there. The menu was simple (not a bad thing) but sadly lacking in any spark. (lamb kebabs with wet polenta? very uninspired)

Two of us had the pork ribs and the other oysters to start. The ribs arrived and looked OK but were soon found to be to dry and the meat too chewy. It tasted OK but I have had far better. The oysters were good and well presented.

Mains were simple-two fillet steaks and one sirlion. All three arrived and looked good. My fellow diners had the fillets and the first thing they commented on was the bonemarrow, that looked very tasty. Their steaks were good but not exceptional and the smoked bearnaise was bland.

My sirlion was placed on a flaccid pile of wet “pan roasted” escarole, tasteless and pointless. It also made one half of the steak wet, spoiling the chargrill texture. It had been grilled OK but again very ordinary-for a 48 dry aged steak it had little flavour. (i am not sure how you can spoil such a good quality ingredient to be honest)

Service throughout was OK. The wine list basic but fine. The sides boring and tasteless. (at this point, my review is depressing me!)

In my opinion, if you want to have a good steak, with Goodmans in the City is far, far better. The meat is cooked to perfection and the service is excellent.

The shame of it all is that the Barbecoa states it has excellent ingredients, all of the state of the art cooking methods but produces bland, expensive food-a serious rethink is needed by the management is needed, as this… More